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Passage to Deal

This is the second in a series of four posts about our Easter 2016 Cruise. After the big emotions of the first passage, Outback Dreamer elects to stay put at the Prom rather than follow us to Deal Island. But for us the opportunity to escape is too tempting and we are off!

Rain and clouds at Wilsons Prom

The conditions are perfect: 15 to 20 knots WSW – a great run with the wind on our back quarter. We sail out of Waterloo Bay, initially slowly, but soon pick up speed, sailing under main and genoa. It is raining on the Prom, yet we manage to dodge the showers.

The scenery is moody with heavy clouds and curtains of rain over the ocean and the distant hills and islets behind us, but ahead of us the weather is clearer and sunny.

We see a few albatrosses, Wilson’s petrels and many shearwaters weaving and banking between the waves: the reward of sailing on a windy day. We have a very enjoyable and fast sail to Deal, the largest of the Kent Group of islands, 50 nautical miles away. We reach the rugged islands and are anchored in Garden Cove before 2 pm. The approach to the Kent Group is always impressive: large, rugged isles with tall cliffs, orange lichen on the granite so characteristic of Bass Strait islands, and the teal waters of the cove. We will be here for three nights and enjoy the remoteness.